— Kindergarten

Kindergarten Curriculum Overview

Reading/Language Arts

Reading Street is a comprehensive reading-language arts program. It focuses on both reading and handwriting, while also helping students who do not know how to read or write to improve their auditory and oral language skills.

The center of the reading program used in our classroom is children’s literature. Children are given the opportunity to experience various types of literature, such as fiction, non-fiction, and poetry on a daily basis. The children even make their own books modeled after books read to them in class. Some books are individually made; others are class-made.

For handwriting, we utilize Zaner-Bloser’s vertical manuscript alphabet. This program improves letter recognition and supports reading development by using the same alphabet the children see outside of the classroom each day. It is presented in such a way that makes learning proper letter formation simple and straightforward.

Math

Text: Progress in Mathematics by Sadlier-Oxford

Our program is designed to help children learn a wide variety of mathematical concepts that will help them build the foundational skills they will need in the future. Children are actively engaged in learning and discovery through the use of concrete materials such as pattern blocks, snap cubes, buttons, seeds, and other hands-on manipulatives. Throughout the school year, children will learn about sorting, geometry, patterns, positions, numbers to 100, tables/graphs, fractions, addition and subtraction, money, time, and measurement. The goal of our math program is to help students learn to think critically and to help them learn how to apply those critical thinking skills to real-world situations.

Religion

Texts: Blest Are We and Family Life by RCL Benziger

Our text is divided into 5 units:

Unit 1: God’s love creates the universe

Unit 2: God’s love makes me who I am

Unit 3: God’s love gives me people to love

Unit 4: God’s love gives me Jesus

Unit 5: God’s love teaches me to love

Our “religion attitude or spirit” is practiced all day. We are taught to act the way Jesus taught us — in a kind and loving way.

Prayers that are taught in the class are:

The Sign of the Cross

The Our Father

The Hail Mary

The Glory Be

Angel of God

Students regularly attend school prayer services and liturgies.

Science

Text: Science by Harcourt School Publishers

The children are given experiences observing, describing, and classifying. Topics covered include:

Life science (animals and plants)

Earth science (land, air, water, weather, and seasons)

Physical science (objects around us and investigating water)

Social Studies

Text: California Vistas by Macmillan/McGraw Hill

The main focus of our program is to help students navigate their daily lives. We discuss many concepts but focus primarily on basic citizenship, our school and our neighborhood, holidays, and building positive friendships. Throughout our learning, we make sure to always emphasize cooperation.

Mrs. Mildred Garcia teaches kindergarten.

Mildred Garcia migrated from Manila, Philippines, in 2001. She graduated from the University of the Philippines-Diliman campus with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Law. She practiced law for 10 years before contemplating a shift in her career to Early Childhood Education. It was not until their family migrated here to the Bay Area that she was given the opportunity to pursue her “dream.” Her career as an educator includes working as a K-1 Instructional Assistant, a Resource Specialist substitute, and a preschool teacher. She holds a Child Development Master Teachers Permit and Site Supervisor Permit. She has also completed graduate courses in Early Childhood Special Education and is currently completing a Reading Certificate Program with UC Irvine-Extension. Her passion is her family, which includes her husband and two daughters. When she can find the time, she loves to watch TV or a movie with her family or curl in bed with a book.